Series starring and created by women will be the focus of the talk by the UA and the Department of Equality

The main hall of the Torrevieja Casino hosted yesterday the thought-provoking and engaging talk “Creators and Protagonists: Female Authorship and Representation in Television Series,” presented by Patricia Palomares-Sánchez, a predoctoral researcher in the Department of Communication and Social Psychology at the University of Alicante. This initiative was a collaboration between the University of Alicante's Torrevieja branch, the City Council's Department of Equality, and the local Torrevieja cultural organization.

Patricia pointed out that of the more than 200 Spanish television series released between 2016 and 2024, only 15% were created by women. This means that although we see more female protagonists, almost half of these series were created by men, and therefore what we consume on screen is from their perspective.

When the audiovisual sector, which is particularly male-dominated, allows women to create serialized fiction with female protagonists, drama predominates, although comedy and the miniseries format are becoming increasingly prominent. In this regard, Patricia mentioned the series Supernormal (Movistar+) by Olatz Arroyo and Marta Sánchez; Intimidad (Netflix) by Verónica Fernández and Laura Sarmiento; and Vida perfecta (Movistar+) by Leticia Dolera.

In her invitation to consume not only series, but also audiovisual and digital content critically, reflectively, and analytically, Patricia used two slides as examples: the first with posters for series starring women, and the second with posters for series starring men. The difference lay in the fact that while in the series featuring women, the characters appear as a group, the posters for series starring men only show the protagonist as a single man. Without considering their backstories and contexts, the posters themselves already highlight this unequal reality.

Patricia, introduced and moderated by Jesús Segarra-Saavedra, director of the UA headquarters in Torrevieja, and the large audience in attendance, were accompanied by Inmaculada Montesinos, Councilor for Equality of the Torrevieja City Council; Sandra Sánchez, Councilor for Urban Services, as well as Concha Sala, Councilor for Parks and Gardens.